"So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life."

I think this is a wonderful idea, since it was discovering this genre that opened my eyes to the wonderful world of books!

Let me start from the beginning. I was raised thinking the kind of books you should read are authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, horror, suspense thriller. And I did. I tried a few different books. One I remember was Dew Claws...yeah, that sounds real nice for a young one to read! NOT! The Rocking Horse was another. Creepy, creepy cover on that one. I read a few Stephen King's and Dean Koontz, but I just hated them, so I hated reading!!

But then, my wonderful, lovely neighbor, Barb, at the apartment we lived in for five years, introduced me to Anne Rice! I read her Mayfair Witches in record time! I attempted to read the Vampire Chronicles, but wasn't feeling them. So for awhile I didn't read much. But then I discovered the fantabulous world of Harry Potter! Thank goodness I bought the wrong book for my step-son one year for Christmas! I bought the first instead of the third. I decided to keep it rather than take it back. It looked fun. One day I decided to read it, because Barb kept talking about how great it was! So I did and the rest is history! Imma Harry Potter junkie!! :P

A few years later, when my son started Kindergarten, I was browsing the books at the grocery store and happened across the last book in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, Blood Canticle. I picked it up and was just ecstatic that she meshed the Vampire world with her witch world!! I read that one and immediately went to the bookstore to start the Vampire Chronicles from the beginning. Once I finished those I didn't know where to turn next for books. So I asked the sales lady and she steered me in the direction of the Fantasy/Sci.Fi. section and holy shit!! I was in Heaven, Baby!! I discovered some amazing and brilliant writers. Some of them I'm not sure I could read and enjoy today, but at the time, I thought they were just out of this world amazing!!

One of them of course is the ubber talented, Anne Bishop! Most of you know, I have alot of love for that woman's books!! For me, it doesn't get much better than her :D. She is just amazing. A few other's that will remain on my keeper shelf is Elizabeth Haydon, Carol Berg, James Clemens, Lynn Flewelling, and Storm Constantine.

After reading Elizabeth Haydon's symphony trilogy, and experiencing the romance that was in it, I wondered what a true romance would be like! And that is where Fantasy and Science Fiction changed my life!! Who knows, without it, I may never have attempted a romance. And if I never attempted a romance, I would never have started blogging. And if I never started blogging I never would have met any of you awesome people!! Oh what a boring life I would have lived for the past 4 years!!

So the Fantasy genre really did change my life! And I love it!

I'm always on the look-out for fantasy romance. It calls to me! Since I started reading romance, I find it difficult to stay with a fantasy that doens't have any romantic elements in it. It seems lately, I've had some really great luck! A few that I have read recently that I thought were simply outstanding were Dru Pagliassotti (Clockwork Heart), Elizabeth Vaughan (The Warlands Trilogy), Pati Nagle (The Betrayal).

I have bought some fantasies that I doubt they have the romance in it, but they might. Like Naomi Novik and Mercedes Lackey. I think they do. It would be nice if they did! I have others, like Anne Maccaffrey and Juliet Marillier. I would have read them already had I not discovered romance.

My thanks to ALL the fabulous Fantasy and SciFi Writers out there!! You have brought many exciting-filled days of reading into my life and I am extremely grateful.

Awesome on the Fantasy/SF day!! I discovered fantasy romance with ebooks and not so long ago. So it all new for me and I love it! There are so many themes now I love to read, especially the fantasy ones! One book I remember that I read this year and was absolutely the best was THE KING'S DAUGHTER by M.C. Halliday (Samhain romance book). It was so good. Too I love the Luna books, especially Robin D. Owens and Jeri Smith-Ready's books there! So I love getting recommendations of Fantasy Romance books. (I haven't read too much with SF. I do if its not really complicated for me, since its new for me).

Hey I didn't know of that book by Pati Nagel! I just checked and out and must get it! I did find here post too of deleted scenes (http://aelven.com/thebetrayal-deleted.html) and thought you'd might want if you didn't know already!

Hi Blodeuedd! Awesome! How do you like that calender? ;) I'm really looking forward to reading Naomi Novik! I'm thinking it will have just enough relationship stuff.

Hey Caffey, I had The King's Daughter in my wishlist at MBaM.com. It should still be there. I might have to look into next time over that way. That Pati Nagle book is really good. I can't wait for the second one. You know what I find very interesting about that book and the cover? The antagonist is the woman on the cover! How neat is that? LOL I thought that very interesting. The good and bad is not black and white in this book. It's great!

And thank you for the link, but I have already read them :). One of them I actually thought would have been nice in the book.

I am reaching out in the hopes of finding people who enjoy romance as much as I, so I can find people to suggest my very first published romance novel. It was released in April of this year, and I am hoping to get the word out!!

I am hard at work on my second book, not a part two but a new romance novel, and I am hoping that by getting the word out about the first one, I can find an audience for my writing!

Maybe you should check Lois McMaster Bujold's The Sharing Knife-series. It has fantasy + romance. If you don't mind following a pair that has a very huge age difference, then you could try the first book (Beguilement) and see whether you want to continue reading rest of the series. I loved it!

Thanks for naming a few romantic fantasy authors. I've been searching for others since reading The Sharing Knife.

Hey Maija, thanks for the suggestion! I ahve looked into her Sharing Knife series. I might have to give it another look! I have read two of her other books, The Curse of Challion and Paladin of Souls. Both I loved. I couldn't get into the next one though, can't think of the name right now. But they both also had a tiny bit of romance in them, of course not the sex kinda romance, but the two in each book had a happy ever after! LOL

ANother amazing fantasy romance series that I just love is Jeri Smith-Ready. Her Aspect of Crow trilogy is amazing!

Amy, glad to know you liked The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls. I've been meaning to try that Curse of Chalion series after liking The Sharing Knife so much. Maybe I'll check the first pages from HarperCollins' Browse Inside (at first I wasn't sure about Beguilement so before buying it I read first chapters from HC - that made me buy it and the rest is history ;).I really need romance in my books and I think SK had enough of it. Especially the first two books follow Dag & Fawn and their relationship quite much. Maybe their love was not the main focus in the last two parts, but there was so much wonderful things happening that it kept me interested!

Great post! "Harry Potter" opened my eyes to fantasy books too. Prior to that I just couldn't seem to get into them, after HP I began reading more and more and taking chances buying fantasy books that I wouldn't have looked at before (I used to head directly for the contemp. or historical romances!).:o)

I love your post! Thank you for stopping by my blog. I read Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Side of the Moon right after Devil May Cry (I know, bad order), so I don't have a basis of comparison to the rest of the series. If you've enjoyed the first 7, that means I have some reading to do!

Hi Amy,thanks for the great post! It was a walk down the memory line for me, had me think of my favorites long time ago, David Eddings, Robert Jordan, Katharine Kerr, Elizabeth Moon, Tad Williams... I loved the books, but now I need a little bit more romance in my books too!

Hey MsM, I think it's amazing how many people have been affected in one way or another by the Harry Potter books!

Hey Pam! Oh yes! CL Wilson's Tairen Soul series is just amazing, isn't it?? My mom just read Clockwork Heart becasue I kept telling her how much I loved it and she did too. Very neat world building in that one. Tracy and Renee both recommended it! Fantastic book. I hope you like it too. You'll have to drop back by and let me know what you did think :).

Hey Linda Ellen, thank you for posting about it! And my lips are sealed about reading a series out of order!! :P But yes, you have some great reading in the beginning of the Dark Hunters series!

Hi Eva, my mom just bought DaggerSpell the other day. That was the last fantasy book I bought before I got big into the romances. I never did read it :(. and I never kept it either. I don't know why I got rid of it. I buy fantasies now, so I could kick myself in the ass for parting with it!

About Me

Welcome to my little corner of the world. A place where I share thoughts on the third love of my life. Books. The places I've explored are most wondrous and spectacular. I've traveled the world. I've crossed the oceans, visited far away lands. My journeys to exotic new worlds have been some of my most amazing and memorable travels. Worlds where magic and dragons exist. Let your mind wander, for the possibilities are endless within the pages of a book.himscute@yahoo.com(In case you might want to email me)